Do you know that de-cluttering can help you succeed in your home sale?
Whether you are a homeowner or a real estate professional, selling homes is not easy. There is a myriad of things that are out of your control, like location, expenses, market conditions and pricing but this does not mean you have no control.
In fact, the things that are in your control can be worked upon to help you successfully sell homes. One of these things is the look of the home you are trying to sell. Whether potential buyers look at your home from the curb or from the inside, you can influence how it makes them feel.
You can learn how to add curb appeal to any home by reading our blog on the topic.
By spending some time, resources and effort, you can greatly change the way a buyer feels about your home. You do not need to spend a fortune, but some expenses are well worth it if they can get you a profit with higher offers or a faster sale.
However, there are some things that will cost you close to nothing and give you a desired result to make your home look more attractive to buyers. De-cluttering is one such thing that can immensely change the way your home looks and feels.
Most importantly, de-cluttering for success can help you get better and faster offers at relatively zero costs.
Let’s discuss whether de-cluttering even helps with the selling of homes, what are its benefits and how you, as a homeowner or real estate professional, can de-clutter for success.
Does De-Cluttering Really Help in Selling Homes?
The most common reason for anyone moving homes is the lack of space in their current home. Whether they want to start a family or simply because they have outgrown their current homes, they want more space than they already have.
Ample space can be the number one factor that attracts a buyer. If they visit your home and see that it is struggling with space, this will immediately result in a negative reaction toward buying your home. This makes de-cluttering an excellent way to attract more buyers with better offers.
Benefits of De-Cluttering for Selling Homes
Apart from a more successful sale, there are many other benefits of de-cluttering that are advantageous for owners and real estate professionals alike. These include:
More Space
De-cluttering means there is more space in your home than before, and as mentioned earlier, there is nothing more attractive to a buyer than more space. More importantly, it allows them to accurately see every detail of the home, estimate its value and fill it with their imagination.
This is something they cannot do if your personal stuff is distracting them and getting in the way of them being able to clearly see every wall, floor and corner of your home.
Attachment
Most veteran real estate professionals have seen first-hand the melancholy and dull feelings their clients experience when parting from their lived-in homes. If you have ever moved homes, then you probably understand the attachment you felt to the home and what moving on felt like.
When de-cluttering, you will systematically remove or pack up a majority of the items in your home and detach from the things that made it feel like your home. You will be focused on de-cluttering and gradually, your home will look less and less like the home you recognize.
This makes you realize that you are taking everything with you that made it feel like home and your attachment to the home will gradually lessen.
Preparedness
De-cluttering allows you to pack away your belongings ahead of time and gets you more prepared for your new home. This way, when the time comes to move on, you will already have an advantage because most of your stuff will already be packed, with very little left to add.
Sends the Right Message
It is well known in real estate that a buyer must be able to envision themselves living in a home before they even make an offer. This makes complete sense because you would never buy a home that you cannot see yourself living in.
De-cluttering means de-personalizing the home, which is the best way to help potential buyers envision themselves living in that home. This is a great benefit for owners and real estate professionals, both, as it helps attract more committed buyers.
The buyer will not be distracted by your personal belongings or the fact that the home was lived-in, they will only focus on living their themselves and the things that you make them focus on. An excellent start to any real estate deal, because it sends the right message across.
De-Clutter for Success
The first thing to do before you start to de-clutter a home is to take some pictures of its existing condition. The first thing that your potential buyer will likely see are pictures of the home and taking them beforehand will help you understand lighting, arrangements and other things that stand out.
More often than not, you will notice that it is the stuff inside the home that is making the pictures look unattractive to a potential buyer. It gives you an overview of the entire home and you get to see the bigger picture of what they buyer is looking for.
You want it to look like a model home for buyers and not a lived-in space. The key here is to maximize the layout and space of each room. Space is the most important factor in selling any home and you want to capitalize on it.
The best way to accomplish this is by minimizing the ‘things’ inside and give your potential buyer a sense of open spaces. They will likely already know the actual amount of space from your listings and pictures but you want them to feel the space to evoke emotional interest.
There are two types of clutter you want to address:
1. Actual Clutter
The first is actual clutter that is either rubbish or does not belong in the space it currently occupies. You will have to decide yourself what to throw and what to pack but you should understand well that this includes most of the things in every room and they must go for de-cluttering.
As the homeowner, a good benefit is that this will help save you time and money on things that you already have to pack and move. It will also make it easier for you to unpack things at your destination.
2. Personal Clutter
The second are things that you want to keep but do not do you any favors while selling homes. These are personal things and items that you can store away until after you move to the next home. This will account for the majority of the clutter you remove.
Keep things that reflect the purpose of each room and lay out small and large objects to maximize space. Small spaces can make do with just a few large objects to make them appear bigger, while larger spaces can benefit from some attractive pieces that do not distract from the overall aesthetic of the home.
Anything that does not currently fit with the desired look of your home and you still need to keep will have to temporarily go away. A good idea is to move it all to a storage unit until you can move it to your new home.
Conclusion
All in all, here is an overview of the best practices to de-clutter for success.
- Do not think that you can store away all your clutter in cupboards or storerooms. Buyers will check everything, and you do not want it to look like you were hiding a bunch of stuff that was previously all over the house
- Maximize the space by actually minimizing the stuff inside and remove your personal and actual clutter early to get a head start
- Find temporary storage for things that do not promote the sale
- Utilize every room for its purpose and put items inside accordingly. No room should be empty as it portrays an unnecessary room that the buyer is paying extra for
- Get pictures taken after the entire process for the best results from potential buyers who look at your listing
- Maintain the de-cluttered look until you’ve closed the sale
What We Do
If you are a real estate professional looking for assistance in selling homes, OktoHub is your solution. OktoHub is the first on-demand real estate assistance program that allows you to hire temporary assistance for specific jobs without the commitment of a long-term hire.
Whether it is an open house, staging or client meeting, you will never have to trade your personal time for monetary gains. You can also stop giving up clients to spend more time with your family.
Simply create a vast network of trusted real estate professionals around you using OktoHub and always have reliable assistance on demand.
To learn more about de-cluttering for success or about OktoHub, please visit our website today.
